Happy Halloween!

My friend Justin and his adorable daughter Michelle came over the other night to carve some pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns. We ended up with two "happy" jack-o-lanterns according to Michelle, but I think the first one looks a little evil (I carved that one).


Anyway, you're probably asking what this post has to do with cooking. Well, we made dried pumpkin seeds that turned out pretty good. It was a simple too. I just rinsed the seeds in the strainer to get all the pumpkin innards off of them and let them drain for a minute.

Then I heated a frying pan to med-high heat and melted about a tablespoon of butter (you could probably use a half tablespoon for the seeds of a single pumpkin). As soon as the butter melted, I added the seeds and enough salt to season the seeds. I like them pretty salty and used a few teaspoons of salt. I tossed them around in my pan for about 2 minutes and spread them out on a baking sheet.

Then I put them in the warming drawer of my oven for about 6 hours. I think you could probably cook them on low heat in the oven for a few hours if you don't have a warming drawer.
My dad used to make these all the time around Halloween and we always used to enjoy them.

Happy Halloween!!

A Fresh Take on Lasagna

I'm not sure I've met anyone that doesn't like cheese, but one of my personal favorites is Mozzarella di Bufala Campana (click the link if you want to read more). There are lots of brands of mozzarella out there, but if it's not made with buffalo milk, it's not the real thing. Of course, that's not to say that other mozzarellas are not good.

My personal favorite is a brand called Garofalo, which I discovered in Napoli. If you ever see this brand at the store, you should try it. It's hard to find, but you can get it at specialty food stores and places like Whole Foods.

Fresh buffalo mozzarella is wonderfully flavorful and creamy, and it is best served with very light flavors such as tomato with a hint of basil, which, as you probably know, comprises the world famous Caprese Salad. I've also served it with thinly sliced jalapenos (my personal favorite), roasted red peppers and even slices of cucumber.

Recently, I created a "quasi" lasagna using the cheese. This recipe is really fun because you can experiment with the different flavors. Here is a list of ingredients you could use, but improvise if you feel like it!

• Ripe tomato (I used a purple heirloom tomato in the photos below)
  
• Avocado
• Roasted red pepper
• Cucumber
• Sausage
• Basil (or herbed olive oil)
• Grilled zucchini

Last time I made this, I used all of the ingredients above, except cucumber.

For four servings: First, I grilled a couple Italian sausages and some quarter-inch slices of zucchini seasoned with olive oil and salt and pepper.

Next, slice up your mozzarella, tomatoes, avocado, etc., and cut the sausage into thin slices lengthwise. Season your tomato, mozzarella and avocado lightly with salt and begin layering your ingredients. I put some crumbels of feta on top last time.

Spicy Seasoning Salt

In my boiled peanuts recipe, I mentioned seasoning salt. Many folks are satisfied with Lawry's or another seasoning salt, but my family has always made their own seasoning salt, and it's become a staple in my kitchen.

To make it, mix the following ingredients in a big bowl:

26 oz. kosher salt - (this is generally the size of the cylinder shaped container you find at the store) it's important to use kosher salt in cooking
3 oz. ground pepper - you can use black pepper if you want, but I use a combination of pink, green, white and black peppercorns that I grind right before mixing
4 oz. ground red pepper - this is the spicy part.... seriously, consider using an air mask when you mix the red pepper. It always makes me sneeze.
2 oz. garlic powder
2 oz. chili powder

The family recipe actually calls for half of the spices used above, but I like it spicy (and I'm also trying to cut my salt intake) so I doubled it. Again, make it however you'd like depending on how much spice you like.

I use this seasoning on my salads, steaks, chicken and almost anything I throw on the grill. Generally, I don't use it on veggies other than salad or on light tasting fish because it's such a bold seasoning.

I hope you enjoy it.

P-nuts Boiled in Beer?

I know, I know... My mother and her boyfriend say it's a waste of beer, but I genuinely think the beer adds a nice flavor and I've been using Olde English (a high school favorite), which is very affordable.

Someone used to tell me that if you saw a sign on the road advertising "boiled p-nuts", they were usually better than the advertisements for "boiled peanuts". Hmm... I haven't figured that one out yet because these are better than any of the ones you buy on the road. Anyway, if you like boiled p-nuts, this recipe rocks.

Get 2-3 lbs of raw or green peanuts, which are immature peanuts that have not yet been roasted. (pictured below)

Boil them in 2-3 cans of chicken broth and a 40 of OE. Add in 5 dried hot chilis or jalapenos. Exclude the peppers if you think they will make it too spicy. Also, if needed, add extra beer or broth to make sure the p-nuts are covered.

Boil first for 1.5 hours, then add 3/4 cup of seasoning salt and boil for 1 more hour. (I'll put a recipe for really great seasoning salt up as well) Turn off heat, let peanuts sit for about 30 minutes in water, drain and enjoy.

Simple Fish Recipe

I'm on a budget these days with the economic turmoil that's out there so I picked up a few filets of tilapia at the store. It's a farm-raised, relatively inexpensive white fish. It's not my favorite of the flaky white fishes, as I generally prefer halibut, but it's versatile and pretty flavorful.

Anyway, because of the relative mildness of white fish, I like to make it with a sauce. I rummaged through my refrigerator and ended up stumbling upon a pretty good and very easy recipe. Here is what I did:

I used a small saucepan (example here) and sauteed three sliced shallots in about three tablespoons of olive oil. Once the shallots were soft and translucent, I added one chopped large tomato and let it cook down to the point that the skins started to separate from the tomato.

Then, I chopped up about 4 capers and 3 olives, and thinly sliced about a dozen marinated artichoke hearts. I added those ingredients to the pot along with a cup of dry vermouth. I prefer Cinzano. Let everything reduce for 10 minutes or so and you have your sauce.

I broil the fish filets in my favorite cast iron pans. I'll put up another post on that sometime soon.